In an attempt to woo voters, Republicans and Democrats have put their best convention feet forward.

After just the first day of the Republican National Convention (a full day of activity was cancelled due to developing storm Isaac), Obama’s top adviser Robert Gibbs characterized the GOP gathering as “angry” and “strange” and “full of insults. His remarks must have been festering in a folded paper in his hip pocket for weeks; he was pretty pleased to grab a few headlines. What Gibbs wrote turned out to be a prognostication of his own party’s convention goings-on a few days later in Charlotte, NC…

In spite of the sensitive and well-handled Republican convention storm adaptations, some rabble-rousing Democrats called for a cancellation of the entire convention. But, once the Democratic National Convention got underway a few days later, there was no reference from speakers of Hurricane Isaac or helping the victims.

Our President’s re-election insecurity prompted a ‘save-me’ call to former president Bill Clinton. Team O thought he was needed to take center-stage to plaster some pizazz over Obama’s putrid economy. Yes, that Bill Clinton who once called Obama “the chief executor of good intentions” and formerly said of Obama “A few years ago, this guy would have been carrying our bags.” Yikes. Clinton jumped at the chance to appear be a team player while visions of Hillary in the White House (and himself) danced in his head.

Obama, in spite of doing his best to rattle the rafters, delivered a flat, warmed-over class-warfare speech we’ve numbingly heard before. Maybe knowing the jobs report numbers that were to be released today messed with his head.

ADDENDUM - A comment on Michelle Obama’s speech: One got the feeling Mrs. O spent a month of Sundays at studied speech practice in front of her ‘make-up’ mirror getting those inserted smiles and practiced pauses just right. The drama… Her “Obama hunched over his desk” (hunched – mind you!) poring over letters from people having a hard go in this hardship economy (no mention of Obama’s part in it) was that which made listening to her barely tolerable. But, the cake-taker for me was her affected stammers – meant to pepper following prose with dramatic sincerity but only highlighting insincerity – that relegated her to the category of ‘First Lady Duping-The-Folks Academy Award’. She laid it on too, too thick. Charles Krauthammer thought so, too:

Most brilliantly manipulative:

Michelle Obama, by three touchdowns. Beautifully structured, delivered with studied emotion — the feigned stammer to render natural a finely written telepromptered text was a touch of genius — she made the case for why her husband governed as he has.

Because he cares. He loves his wife, loves his children, loves his family — therefore he loves you. The syllogism, a total non sequitur, was laid on with panache.

It worked. She managed to drain her husband’s entire first term of any hint of ideological or personal motivation. He is driven by his caring, giving soul — not by a deeply felt ideology developed in youth: redistributionist, government-centered, disdainful of success, committed to his social-democratic view of social justice.
…Only a wife can turn a ruthlessly ambitious pol, who undid the Clintons four years ago and today relentlessly demonizes Romney, into a care bear. She pulled it off.

How about that floor flight spectacle over including “Jerusalem” and “God” in their platform?! They actually BOOED God. Plus, those numerous, hissing references to Republicans as Nazis were a turn-off and deeply insulting to those who have actually endured Nazism.

Don’t forget the featured steel worker who claimed he worked for Bain Capitol. He embellished his story against Bain by stating he lost his job when the Bain-controlled company GST steel filed for bankruptcy in the early 1990s. A big LIE.

In the end, Democrats tried to razzle-dazzle with actresses and musicians James Taylor, Mary J. Blige, and the Foo Fighters. An array of liberal speakers brought forth a parade of theatrical over-the-top rhetoric, misrepresentations, and outright lies about Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. (Did you know Republicans are plotting to take the vote away from women? And, will do all within their power to stop women from using contraceptives? NOT.) Did you happen to catch former MI Governor Jennifer Granholm’s meltdown?

It was a circus of slander.

Mr. Gibbs, YOUR convention was angry, full of insults, and very strange.

FOX New’s Bret Baier caught up with Mitt Romney today in Sioux City, Iowa to ask him about Obama’s acceptance speech last night, today’s jobs report, repeated false claims he didn’t care about the American auto industry, doesn’t care about the U.S. military, and more:

► With only 96,000 jobs created in August (down from 141,000 jobs in July), Obama’s hoped-for convention re-gilding isn’t going to happen:

The economy created only 96,000 jobs in August, the unemployment rate remains above 8 percent, and more than 350,000 Americans have dropped out of the work force. While some may focus on the jobs that were created last month, this jobs report is nothing but horrendous. I welcome any jobs, but American workers giving up on employment in the weakest recovery since the Great Depression is cause for alarm, not celebration.

The unemployment rate has not fallen below 8 percent for the past 43 months. The labor force participation rate is at the lowest level in 31 years. If the labor force participation rate were at the same level it was before the recession started, the unemployment rate would be 11.6 percent today. And the rate of “underemployment” or “real unemployment,” including the unemployed, those who want work but have stopped searching in this economy, and those who are forced to work part-time because they cannot find full-time employment is actually at 14.7 percent. We’re still experiencing a significant jobs crisis, whether President Obama recognizes it or not.

President Obama’s policies of more spending, more debt and more taxes haven’t worked. It’s way past time for a course correction. The country needs responsible leadership, not the President’s boasts over anemic growth and unending pleas for patience. Americans are looking for a sustained and real recovery. This weak report is nowhere near enough, and this has gone on long enough. Any real jobs plan must stop the regulatory madness and avert the fiscal cliff of tax increases on January 1. The health care law is yet another drag on the economy. Small businesses need tax relief and regulatory certainty to grow and hire.

What about the numbers of those Obama has been systematically slipping onto disability rolls after their unemployment benefits run out? Once on disability? Most always ON disability for life. Also, the Dept. of Labor today did what they usually do; they revised down the job numbers for the two previous months, resulting in 41,000 fewer jobs created than originally reported.

The way Obama opted to defend his record of failure today demeaned himself. Speaking at a rally, this is what he said on Romney, Ryan, and Republicans: “Tax cuts, tax cuts, gut some regulations, oh, and more tax cuts. Tax cuts when times are good, tax cuts when times are bad. Tax cuts to help you lose a few extra pounds. Tax cuts to improve your love life. It’ll cure anything, according to them.”

A few cheap laughs for a failed president.

Let’s turn that around, Obama: “Tax increases, tax increases, inflict more regulations, oh, and more spending increases. Tax increases when times are good, tax increases when times are bad. Spending increases to help you lose a few extra pounds. Tax increases to improve your love life. It’ll cure anything.”

Obama’s got nothin’. The middle class, small businesses, and the one in six Americans who have slipped into poverty are especially fed up. That’s why his manipulative oratory in Charlotte did not include a word about the USA’s staggering, almost incomprehensible debt of over $16 TRILLION and the 47 million Americans who, under his watch, now put groceries on the table with food stamps.

CBS News has announced that ‘America’s Comeback Team’ Mitt Romney and running mate Paul Ryan will make a joint appearance this evening on ’60 Minutes’ tonight. CBS News chief and host Bob Schieffer will conduct the interview.

The taping will take place in High Point, North Carolina and will air @7PM Eastern.

Let’s go Rom/Ry!

UPDATE – Here’s the interview, minus the part edited out where Ryan spoke about his mother on Social Security:

Voters are fired up and opening their pocketbooks for Romney and Ryan!

Since the V.P. reveal yesterday morning, in the last 24 hours, online fundraising has reached $3.5 MILLION. Facts from Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey:

I contacted a source close to the campaign, and got the details:

Donors: over 41,000
Average donation: $85
Website visits: 700,000

The campaign saw an interesting phenomenon after the Ryan announcement. Over 30% of the visits came from mobile devices, something the source tells me the campaign has never seen before in this cycle. It shows that the selection of Ryan may have some significant upside among younger voters who may relate more to Ryan than to Obama, Joe Biden, and the administration that has cratered job prospects for this demographic over the last three years.

UPDATE: A HOMECOMING RALLY for R&R will be held this evening in Waukesha, Wisconsin at 6:05 PM Central Time. (Earlier today, the two campaigned in Mooresville, N.C. and High Point, N.C.) That’s going to be some celebration! A possible livefeed may be found here. C-Span will also air live coverage (and possibly FOX News, CNN).

Dear critics who’ve been saying the Romney camp will go “too easy” on Obama and not effectively hold him accountable for his poor economic record, please don’t bite your tongue while chewing on this no-holds-barred web video, released this morning by Team Romney.Be sure to turn the volume up, and share with your friends:

Obama Isn't Working

Four years ago at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, then-candidate Barack Obama said that Democrats measure progress by whether people can find a job and provide for themselves and their families. In September, President Obama and the Democrats will meet for the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina, a state that has lost nearly 50,000 jobs since President Obama took office and has an unemployment rate of nearly 10%.

President Obama’s next stop on his Magical Misery Tour is North Carolina. He plans to “engage in a little retail politics’ amid our nation’s jobs crisis (translation: campaign for himself while trying to sell his failed jobs-and-tax bill by breaking it into bite-sized pieces).

Since President Obama’s visit to North Carolina last month, the state’s jobless rate has climbed to 10.4% and another 12,000 workers received pink slips:

“The effect is a campaign-style trip that allows the President to engage in a little retail politics…” (Julie Pace, “Obama Gets Back On The Bus For Trip To NC, Va.,” The Associated Press, 10/16/11)

Under President Obama, North Carolina Has Shed More Than 125,000 Jobs And Is Suffering From Double-Digit Unemployment:

Unemployment in North Carolina has climbed to 10.4%. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in North Carolina climbed from 9.7% in May to 10.4% in August. The jobless rate has increased in each of the last three months on record. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, 10/16/11)

Nearly 470,000 people in North Carolina are out of work.. In August, there were an estimated 468,140 unemployed North Carolinians – an increase of more than 32,000 since March of this year and an increase of 11,747 since July. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, 10/16/11)

North Carolina has lost more than 125,000 jobs since President Obama took office. According to Labor Department estimates, nonfarm payroll employment in North Carolina was 4,009,700 in January 2009 and 3,882,500 in August 2011. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, 10/16/11)

President Barack Obama is targeting vital North Carolina and Virginia this week, as he kicks off a three-day bus tour that is as much about campaigning for his jobs bill as it is shoring up support in two southern states he wrested from Republican control four years ago.

Obama’s 2008 victories in North Carolina and Virginia were due in large part to the states’ changing demographics and his campaign’s ability to boost voter turnout among young people and African-Americans. But nearly three years after his historic election, the president’s approval ratings in both states are sagging, in line with the national trend.

A Quinnipiac University poll out earlier this month put Obama’s approval rating in Virginia at 45 percent, with 52 percent disapproving. The same poll showed 83 percent of Virginians were dissatisfied with the direction of the country. In North Carolina, Obama has a 42 percent approval rating, according to an Elon University poll conducted this month. Most national polls put Obama’s approval rating in the mid-to low-forties.

The president’s bus tour comes as the battle in Washington over his jobs plan enters a new phase. While Obama had demanded lawmakers pass the $447 billion jobs measure in its entirety, Senate Republicans have blocked those efforts, leaving the president and his Democratic allies to fight for the bill’s proposals piece by piece.

As he embarks on the second leg of the Magical Misery Tour, will President Obama listen to jobless Americans or lecture them?

President Obama, in North Carolina on September 14th:

OBAMA: “The time for hand-wringing is over. The time for moping around – we’ve got to kick off our bedroom slippers and put on our marching shoes. We’ve got to get to work.” (President Barack Obama, Remarks in Raleigh, NC, 9/14/11)

(emphasis added)

Last month, Obama explained his failed economic record by saying America had gotten a little soft:

“President Barack Obama on Thursday said the U.S. has lost some of its competitive edge and gotten a ‘little soft.’ … ‘This is a great, great country that had gotten a little soft and we didn’t have that same competitive edge that we needed over the last couple of decades,’ Mr. Obama said in response to a question about the country’s economic future. ‘We need to get back on track.’” (Jared Favole, “Obama: U.S. Has Become A ‘Little Soft,’ ” The Wall Street Journal, 9/29/11)

President Obama gestures while touting his $447 billion jobs plan at N. Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC today. It was his third road trip since unveiling his jobs plan last week. 9/14/11 (photo/AP)

“Pass this bill now… pass this bill now… pass this bill now…”

While President Obama visited North Carolina today on his re-elect me ‘pass this bill’ tour – where unemployment is over 10% and hundreds of thousands are out of work – some of his fellow Democrats confirm his ‘Jobs Plan’ won’t help the economy.

President Obama’s failed policies have not worked for North Carolina:

• In July, The Unemployment Rate In North Carolina Climbed To 10.1%. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, 9/14/11)

• Over 450,000 North Carolinians Were Unemployed In July. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, 9/14/11)

• North Carolina Has Lost More Than 140,000 Nonfarm Payroll Jobs Since President Obama Took Office – Including 22,000 Jobs Since April. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, 9/14/11)

As Obama leaves Washington for the day, Senate Democrats reveal their feelings about his Jobs Plan:

As President Obama campaigns for a jobs plan that some Democrats openly disagree with, nearly eight in ten Americans believe the economy is getting worse:

• Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index released on September 14th is at its lowest point since February 2009.

“Americans’ confidence in the U.S. economy is now at its lowest point since February 2009 – near the conclusion of the recession that officially ended in June 2009. Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index was -52 in August, above its financial crisis lows, but much lower than the -21 to -35 range measured from June 2009 to June 2011.” (Lymari Morales and Elizabeth Mendes, “Three Years After Crisis, Little Sign Of Economic Relief In U.S.,” Gallup.com, 9/14/11)

• 77 % of Americans polled by Gallup in August said the economy is getting worse.

“Americans’ current level of economic confidence – which represents their views on the current state and future direction of the nation’s economy – is decidedly negative. Seventy-seven percent said the economy was getting worse in August, the highest – by far – since February 2009, the month in which Congress passed a $787 billion stimulus bill in hopes of lifting the U.S. economy out the depths of the recession.” (Lymari Morales and Elizabeth Mendes, “Three Years After Crisis, Little Sign Of Economic Relief In U.S.,” Gallup.com, 9/14/11)

PPP research in Nevada, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Virginia, Michigan, and North Carolina reveals the answer…

A broad theme has been emerging in our state by state Presidential polling over the last couple months: if the Republicans nominate Mitt Romney it’s a toss up. And if they nominate anyone else it’s 2008 all over again. Our newest Nevada numbers very much reinforce that trend.

Barack Obama took the Silver State by 12 points in his first run. But if he had to stand for reelection today he’d be in a very competitive race against Romney, leading only 47-46 in the state. Pit him against any of the other Republicans there though and the numbers look pretty similar to last time- 9 point advantages over Herman Cain and Rick Perry at 48-39 and 49-40 respectively, a 10 point lead over Michele Bachmann at 50-40, and a 12 point advantage over Sarah Palin at 51-39.

Over the last month we’ve had similar findings in:

-Pennsylvania, where Obama is tied with Romney but leads all other Republicans by at least 7 points.

-New Hampshire, where Romney leads Obama by 2 points but all other Republicans trails Obama by at least 7.

-Virginia, where Obama leads Romney by 4 but has at least a 9 point advantage over all the rest of the GOP hopefuls.

-Michigan, where Obama has a 5 point advantage over Romney but at least a 15 point lead over everyone else.

-North Carolina, where the disparity between Romney and the rest of the Republicans isn’t quite as great. Obama and Romney are tied while Obama leads all the others by at least 3 points.

Taken all together it makes you ask the question: do Republicans have to nominate Romney to defeat Obama next year?
[...]Obama’s holding his ground against everyone but Romney in Nevada because voters there find the whole GOP field even more unpalatable than him. Romney comes close to breaking even on favorability at 38/43 but the rest of the Republicans are quite unpopular- a -9 spread for Cain at 24/33, a -12 for Perry at 24/36, a -21 for Bachmann at 30/51, and a -28 for Palin at 32/60.

Considering ALL the media exposure Obama receives and that Romney, as the presumptive front runner, is taking hits from all sides, and that The Gov is just now shifting his presidential campaign into higher gear, our man Mitt is doing pretty darn well against our bully pulpit President.

“Rather than focusing on putting people back to work and enacting policies that will restore our economy, too many of our leaders are instead focused on growing the size of government. It is more important than ever that we elect leaders who will say no to the Washington culture of higher spending, higher taxes, and higher debt, and that is why I am endorsing these candidates today,” said Romney.

Endorsed candidates:

Senator Richard Burr: Richard Burr currently serves as a U.S. Senator in North Carolina and is running for reelection. For more information about him and his campaign, visit www.burrforsenate.com.

Congressman Howard Coble: Howard Coble currently represents the 6th Congressional District of North Carolina and is running for reelection. For more information about him and his campaign, visit www.cobleforcongress.com.

Congresswoman Virginia Foxx: Virginia Foxx currently represents the 5th Congressional District of North Carolina and is running for reelection. For more information about her and her campaign, visit www.virginiafoxx.com.

Harold Johnson: Harold Johnson, a former broadcast journalist, is now running to represent the 8th Congressional District of North Carolina. For more information about him and his campaign, visit www.voteharoldjohnson.com.

Jeff Miller: Jeff Miller, a businessman and community leader, is now running to represent the 11th Congressional District of North Carolina. For more information about him and his campaign, visit www.jeffmiller2010.com.

The PAC also announced that is sending Senator Burr a $5,000 contribution toward his Senate campaign, and that it is sending Congressman Coble, Congresswoman Foxx, Johnson, and Miller each a $2,500 contribution toward their respective Congressional campaigns.

These endorsements are another in a series of state rollouts of the PAC’s 2010 endorsements, which are aimed at electing conservative candidates who will work to lower taxes and spending, restore commonsense principles to healthcare and get our economy moving again. As part of this program, Romney’s PAC also has announced endorsements in Ohio, Missouri, California, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Nevada, Illinois, Georgia, Texas, Indiana, Idaho, New Mexico, Virginia, Florida, North Dakota, South Carolina, Utah, Maine, South Dakota, and New Jersey.

Take a tour of the ‘The Tar Heel State’ in 3:24 minutes by clicking here.

Help Governor Romney support conservatives! Click here to donate to Free and Strong America PAC.